What Jeff Lebby Said About Tennessee Ahead of Mississippi State’s Trip to Knoxville

Credit: Mississippi State Athletics

By Tucker Harlin

#7 Tennessee (7-1, 4-1) takes on Mississippi State (2-7, 0-5) in a homecoming contest in Neyland Stadium Saturday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. ET and the game airs on ESPN.

Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby spoke to local media ahead of their trip to Knoxville on Monday afternoon.

FULL VIDEO HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtpJ1mtmP_o

Lebby and Heupel are cut from a similar cloth of offensive-minded Big 12 coaches, something you can trace to coaches like Bob Stoops and Mike Leach.

“A guy that I’ve got more respect for than maybe anybody in the profession. He’s a great friend, somebody that’s been a great mentor to me,” Lebby said. “Having an opportunity to work for him was an incredible experience. He’s a guy that’s incredibly consistent when you look at what he’s done and the amount of success he’s had, and the culture he’s built at an incredible place. (I’ve got) a ton of respect for who he is as a father, a husband, a person, and obviously as a football coach.”

Lebby and Heupel both worked as graduate assistants at Oklahoma, a time in which the two bonded as coaches.

“That’s really where it all started. I was a student assistant and Heup was a GA. Grunting it up together in a tiny little office, spending a lot of time together breaking down opponents and finding shortcuts for the staff and the players after Heup finished a great career there,” Lebby said. “For me, there was great growth. Being 19-20 years old, being able to go at it every single day was great. We coached against each other for a long time with both of us being in the Big 12. Again, (we) have great familiarity and he’s done an unbelievable job.

Lebby was asked about the rebuild Heupel led at Tennessee in 2021 and if he’s applying any of those elements at Mississippi State.

“I’ve seen a great deal of consistency in him (Heupel) being who he’s supposed to be as a leader and a guy the players and staff in the building know what to expect from every day,” Lebby said. “Results won’t dictate who he is as a person and how he interacts (with players). There’s a lot of that you hear me talk about every single day as we’re fighting to build this.”

While the environment in Neyland Stadium is sure to challenge Mississippi State Saturday, the Bulldogs have already played Texas and Georgia on the road this season, challenges that will behoove them for this next test.

“I think the challenge this Saturday is a challenge of its own. I do think with living some of the experiences we’ve lived throughout this season helps us understand what it’s going to be like,” Lebby said. “For us, with so many young guys playing, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but with our guys understanding the crowd noise and understanding the environment, that part of it creates strain and creates stress. I thought we did a better job at Georgia than we did in Austin, and we need to be able to carry that growth over because again, the setting, the environment, the night game will be an electric atmosphere. We need to do a great job of communicating and finding ways to where we can take that out of our game.”

Lebby was asked about the improvement of Tennessee’s defense in the last three years of Heupel’s tenure in Knoxville. He particularly noted the play of the Vols’ defensive front through eight games.

“(It’s) a dominant defensive line, and they’re able to roll seven to eight guys and there’s not drop off,” Lebby said. “That to me is where it sticks out in a big way that they have owned the line of scrimmage. In every single game, they’ve played incredible run defense.It’s a group that’s really deep that’s also really old. It’s juniors and seniors in their front, and they play really well.”

The last question Lebby addressed was about Dyhlan Sampson and his ability to find the end zone.

“This guy has been incredible in running through trash and winning one on ones,” Lebby said. “Arm tackles don’t tackle him, and that to me is what stands out on tape. You have to get multiple people to the football and multiple people to get him on the ground. That’s going to be a huge part of Saturday night.”